


Stories in Starlight

by JEAikman



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sleepy Cuddles, Storytelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 05:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3316652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JEAikman/pseuds/JEAikman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Over the centuries, Thor had been many things to many people. To Odin, he was always the favoured – although headstrong – son and heir. To Frigga, her darling child. He has been friend to the Warriors Three, and once he had thought he might be more than that to Sif. He was the Thunderer, god of fertility, he was Asgard's crown prince. He was an Avenger, and proud to bear his titles. He was also, though people preferred to forget it, though people refuse to hear it mentioned, Loki's big brother. Which was, he felt, a title he had no right to bear, when he had failed him so utterly. </i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tony & Thor friendship fic that I mentioned I would do to gallardoshoes, in aid of more Thor and Tony friendship fics :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stories in Starlight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gallardoshoes (simplecoffee)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplecoffee/gifts).



Over the centuries, Thor had been many things to many people. To Odin, he was always the favoured – although headstrong – son and heir. To Frigga, her darling child. He has been friend to the Warriors Three, and once he had thought he might be more than that to Sif. He was the Thunderer, god of fertility, he was Asgard's crown prince. He was an Avenger, and proud to bear his titles. He was also, though people preferred to forget it, though people refuse to hear it mentioned, Loki's big brother. Which was, he felt, a title he had no right to bear, when he had failed him so utterly.

 

When it came to his comrades in the Avengers, Thor was unsure who he could be to them – a fellow warrior, yes, but what more than that? He did not have the answer, and he did not know who to ask. Loki had always been the one who he relied on to read what people wanted from him. _One does not realise_ , he thought bitterly, _just how much you rely on your legs to hold you up until one is hacked off, leaving you bloody and unable to stand._ Without Loki here to lean on, he felt out of balance, and knew no surface to steady himself with that was not an illusion.

 

This night he had wandered farther up the Tower than he had meant to, though he was sure that everyone else was attending the “meeting” that the good Captain had arranged. He was sure that Stark's digital servant would let him know in no uncertain terms if he was wandering somewhere he was not meant to. Which was why he was surprised to find Stark staring out into the night sky, looking very tired, and very alone. He looked up when he heard the god approaching.

“Oh, hello Thor.” He sounded exactly like Loki used to when he was thinking very hard about something he did not want to think about at all, and yet was too polite to bother anyone with.

“May I join you?” He asked, careful not to step forward before Stark gave a nod of confirmation. He felt the man's gaze on him, heavy and calculating, parsing out his intentions. It was comfortingly familiar in its... not distrust exactly, but something like it.

“I guess you wanted to avoid the “let's talk about our childhood” team meeting too.” Thor allowed himself a small, sad smile and nodded.

 

“I could not speak of it without -” Stark waved his hand dismissively of Thor's explanation.

“He was your little brother. Of course you were going to talk about him. And if Barton doesn't like it he can just suck it.” He sounded genuinely indignant on Thor's behalf.

“If those I speak to do not wish to hear of him, then I have no wish to share his memory with them.” Tony smiled, and there was something familiar in it – something Thor doesn't quite grasp, but he's sure Loki would have.

“See, I knew there was a reason I liked you, Thor.” He paused, looking thoughtfully back up to the stars. “I... did I ever tell you about Obadiah Stane?” Thor shook his head.

“I do not believe you have. Who was he to you?”

 

Stark closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, before staring out once again into the New York skyline.

“That is a very difficult question to answer. I thought I knew, I really did, for the longest time. To me, he was a better dad than my father. He knew me better than anyone else. Hell, after my old man kicked the bucket he practically raised me.”

“And then?” Thor prompted. Stark smiled, a bitter, sharp smile that made Thor wonder if it wasn't made of ice, for it seemed as brittle as glass and as cold as the tundra of Jotenheim.

“Ah, perceptive. You learned more from Loki than most people think, Old Lightning. And then he ordered a hit on me. Of course I didn't know it was him at the time, and then the terrorists decided they wanted me alive. And what did he do? He welcomed me back with open arms. I was completely clueless.” He paused again, and Thor felt the need to comfort him somehow. “Then he ripped my arc reactor out of my chest and left me to die.” Thor froze in horror. “Aw, honey-bear, it's great that you care and all, but it's long over now, and the end to the story is, I still miss the bastard.”

Thor looked up at him in something akin to wonder.

“And that's okay, is what I'm trying to say. It's okay to grieve for family, even if they tried to kill you, even if they tried to take over your company – or kingdom, even. And you don't ever have to be ashamed of that. So this is a really roundabout way of me saying that if you ever want to talk about the stupid shit you and Loki got up to as teenagers, I'm your guy – as long as you're up for me telling you about the even stupider shit _I_ got up to when I was a kid.”

 

Thor stared at Stark, no, Anthony, for a good long moment before he could bring himself to speak, and when he did, to his shame, he found that his voice trembled.

“You have no idea what this means to me, my friend.” Anthony gave him a sad and knowing half-smile, before Thor pulled him into a surprisingly gentle embrace.

“I do, buddy, believe me, I do.” he said, patting the god on the back, and sitting down on the floor once he was released from Thor's grip.

“You like watching the stars?” he asked. It seemed to him that stargazing would seem trivial to the inventor, so focused on moving forward. It had never occurred to Thor that he might enjoy looking up.

“Yeah – um, did we get around to making you watch the Lion King yet?”  
“I do not believe so.”

“Right, actually that's probably a good idea, since the king's brother's all jealous and evil in it, but anyway, there's a bit in that which talks about stars, and the dad lion's all 'let me tell you something my father told me', and then says that all the great kings and queens of the past are up there, watching over us from afar or whatever – Thor, you okay?” Because the god in question had gone white as a sheet.

“I... that is not true of your stars, but our skies are made of nothing but the memories of the honoured dead.” Anthony read his unwillingness to speak any more on the subject and clasped his shoulder gently.

“And if you ever want to talk about how much you miss your mom, well, I'm here for that too.” Thor nodded, unable to conjure words in the way his brother might once have done, and he spent the rest of the night staring out at the stars with Stark slowly falling asleep on his shoulder. Perhaps he should have felt it an overstepping of boundaries, but Thor himself had always been tactile, and the messy head of hair he found himself staring down at brought him fond memories of a time long since lost.

 

“Would you like to hear the story of how Loki made a giantess laugh?”

“Is this the one about tying a goat to his testicles, because I have to say, that's a brave thing to do.” Stark muttered, and he seemed to be snuggling as far into Thor as possible. The god felt warmth spread in his chest from the fact that Anthony would call Loki brave, and he grinned, he could not help it.

“Well, it's not any fun if you already know the story, my friend.”

“Oh come on, tell me the whole thing, I just got a few lines out of a really old book. Come on Thor, _please._ ” The god did as Anthony bid him, and told the tale in all the sordid detail he could muster. The inventor was still asleep by the time he reached the end, but it had felt good to share a happy memory with someone who appreciated it. His heart felt lighter than it had in a long time.

 

He carried Anthony to his bed, tucked him in, and quite without thinking about it, kissed his brow. He paused, surprised at himself. The man, not quite consciously, caught Thor's cape and tugged on it as if he were a child looking for his attention.

“You...best Thor. Wish...had a brother like you.” The Thunderer blinked and took a deep breath. Thor was a great many things to many different people, but somehow Anthony Edward Stark had reminded him how to be a brother. It was too late for Loki now, perhaps – but Anthony... Thor had seen sharpness and bitterness in Anthony, the way he had seen it in Loki and done nothing. He was not about to stand by let Anthony fall the way his brother had. He refused to lose more family, ever.

 

That gave him a thought, but, watching over Anthony's peaceful sleeping form, he decided he could wait a while before following up on it.

 


End file.
